1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to temporary road marking devices, and more particularly to an improved road marker having self-righting characteristics for returning it to an upright position subsequent to the application of externally applied tipping forces.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Road markers, or traffic cones as they are commonly referred to in the art, are in wide usage for temporarily delineating obstructions. Traditionally, traffic cones have been in the form of upstanding hollow cones having planar bases that are slightly larger than the bottom ends of the cones to provide a degree of stability. Traffic cones are normaly fabricated of a brightly colored synthetic resin and are ideally light in weight for portability and most importantly so that they will yield in reaction to externally applied forces rather than for example, damage an automobile which hits such a traffic cone.
For these reasons, traditional traffic cones are easily tipped over by a striking vehicle and even by the wind. Due to the relatively small size of the base and the semi-rigid nature of the materials used in fabricating the traditional traffic cones, once they are tipped oer they remain that way and can cause a hazardous situation due to the significant loss of visibility of the tipped over traffic cone.
As a result of the tipping problem, some attempts have been made to devise an acceptable traffic cone which is more resistant to tipping over as a result of externally applied tipping forces. One way of doing this which has been suggested is to fabricate the cones with larger and weighted bases. Such traffic cones did not achieve any degree of commercial success due to the increased fabrication costs associated with weighting of the bases, and due to the significant loss of portability and ease of handling.
As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,792,679, another prior art attempt was made to overcome the tipping problem associated with the traditional traffic cones. This particular attempt suggested that the cones be fabricated of a material having elasticity and flexibility characteristics so that the cones would tend to be self-righting, that is, they would return to an upright position after being tipped over. This particular prior art structure failed to achieve any appreciable degree of commercial acceptance for the same basic reason mentioned above. In order for this particular prior art structure to work properly, the base has to be large enough so that a portion thereof will remain in contact with the ground surface at all times during tipping and self righting movements. In the absence of a maintained ground surface contact, the traffic cone will remain in a tipped over state and will not right itself. The added weight of a base that is sufficiently large enough to accomplish this, reduced the portability and ease of handling of the particular prior art structure, and this contributed to its lack of success.
Therefore, a need exists for a new and improved traffic cone structure which overcomes some of the problems and shortcomings of the prior art.